Naruto Talks to the Nine-Tails

While the Canopy Screen played, Naruto was assigned to his class at the Ninja Academy.

He ended up on Team 7 with Sakura, the girl he liked most, and Sasuke, the boy he couldn't stand.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had deliberately arranged Naruto's assignment. He wanted Naruto Uzumaki to form bonds with Konoha as quickly as possible.

That was why he had placed Naruto with Haruno Sakura, whom he liked, and Sasuke Uchiha, whose experiences were much like his own.

By then, the ANBU had investigated Kakashi Hatake and confirmed that he had no connection to Obito Uchiha.

Hiruzen Sarutobi trusted him again and assigned him to lead Team 7 as its Jonin.

After a bell-stealing battle passed down through generations, Team 7 was officially formed.

The bell test had a long history, stretching back to when Hiruzen Sarutobi taught the Sannin. That way of teaching his students had been carried on ever since.

That night, Naruto came home exhausted and felt as though he had forgotten something.

Then he spotted the Sheep Talisman lying quietly on the table and slapped his forehead.

"Oh, man! How did I forget about it? I've got to return it right away! Yeah, right now!"

But just as his fingertips touched the cold talisman, he froze.

A thought sprang unbidden into his mind:

Wait. Last night, did I go to that place? The place where that terrifying Demon Fox is locked up?

Naruto had always sensed that the Nine-Tails—the source of so much pain and loneliness in his life—was sealed somewhere inside him.

But he had never "seen" it. To him, the space containing the seal had always been an abstract idea.

Last night, though, he had seen it with his own eyes! Only for an instant, but he had seen that enormous cage, felt that world-destroying Chakra, and even spoken to the creature inside.

I... I actually went there? The realization stunned Naruto.

His gaze returned to the Sheep Talisman, his feelings growing complicated.

The fear was still there, but a desire to explore and make use of what he had found began to take root.

"Maybe this thing isn't useless after all," Naruto murmured. He carefully picked up the talisman and studied it in his palm.

The Sheep Talisman suddenly flashed, and Naruto's soul slipped out of his body again.

"It can send someone's soul out of their body? And then they can go back inside and reach places they normally can't?" Naruto struggled to take in the discovery.

A bold idea began to form in his mind:

If... if I prepare myself this time, could I go back there? Could I even talk to the Demon Fox and ask why it hates me so much?

The thought frightened him, but it also brought a strange rush of excitement.

All his life, the monster inside him had made people shun him and look at him with contempt.

He feared and hated the Nine-Tails, but there was also an unwilling sense of closeness between them.

After all, the Nine-Tails was part of him. Deep down, Naruto had always wanted to understand it—even conquer it.

Now this strange Sheep Talisman seemed to offer him an unprecedented chance.

A chance to face the source of his endless suffering directly.

If he returned the talisman, he might lose that chance forever.

At Grandpa Third's place, it would probably just be locked away. No one would ever learn what it could really do.

But if he kept it...

Naruto's eyes gradually filled with resolve.

Right! I can't return it! He nodded firmly, as though convincing himself, and raised his voice.

"First, the Canopy Screen showed how important this thing is! That terrifying Ninefold Organization keeps looking for it. If I hold on to it, none of them will know where it is. That's the safest place for it!"

"Second, I'm the one who's suffered most because of that Demon Fox! I have every right to use whatever I can to understand it. Maybe one day I'll even beat it!"

"And besides, I've already stolen it. Sneaking it back would be even riskier! If that scary Shimura Danzō finds out, it might cause Grandpa Third even more trouble!"

What Naruto considered flawless logic quickly took shape and convinced him completely.

The last traces of guilt faded beneath his enormous curiosity and his conviction that this was his responsibility.

Then Naruto began steeling himself for a proper conversation with the Nine-Tails.

"Come on, Naruto! You can do this!" he told himself again and again.

He took several deep breaths. "It's just a big fox! What's so scary about that? It's locked in a cage. It can't get out!"

Naruto glanced down at his sleeping body, felt how light his soul had become, and gritted his teeth. He steeled himself and "crashed" into his body once more.

Whoosh!

The fierce sensation of falling returned, along with the twisting of space!

When Naruto came to his senses, he was standing once again in an endless expanse of shallow water. Before him stood the enormous iron cage, its bars covered with sealing talismans.

This time, he fought the urge to flee and forced his "soul" to stand firm.

He stared into the darkness within the cage, gathered every scrap of courage he had, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hey! Nine-Tails! Big fox! Can you hear me?! I know you're in there! Come out! I need to talk to you!"

The darkness deep inside the cage stirred. Two blood-red "lanterns" flared to life, their gaze full of savagery—and a hint of surprise.

"Hmm?" A low voice rumbled like thunder, carrying a trace of amusement and a great deal of impatience. "You again, little insect? You got lucky and escaped last time, yet you dare come back on your own? Tired of living?!"

A terrifying pressure bore down on Naruto, almost solid in its force. Dark-red Chakra poured through the gaps in the cage like boiling water.

The display nearly sent Naruto running again, but he pinched himself hard. Remembering why he had come, he held his ground and shouted back:

"I'm not an insect! My name is Naruto Uzumaki! And I'm going to be Hokage one day!"

"Hmph. Hokage?" The Nine-Tails let out a deafening laugh, thick with contempt.

"What a joke! Coming from you, Uzumaki brat, it's an even bigger joke! You're nothing but the vessel that seals me away—a pitiful prison!"

"I'm not a vessel!" Naruto snapped. Anger overcame his fear, if only for the moment. "Why do you hate me so much? Why do you hate everyone? Just because you're locked up?"

The question seemed to catch the Nine-Tails off guard. Then it roared even more furiously and slammed a huge claw against the bars, shaking the entire space:

"Why do I hate you?! Why shouldn't I?! You selfish humans! Your Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Techniques! You bound me by force, stole my freedom, and treated my power as a weapon and a tool!"

"Generation after generation! My hatred is as endless as this abyss! And you, brat, with your filthy bloodline and the seal you inherited, are the greatest proof of it!"

The roar left Naruto dazed. He had a vague sense that this hatred ran far deeper and was far more complicated than he had imagined.

He had thought the Nine-Tails was nothing more than a monster bent on destruction.

"B-but I didn't do any of that!" Naruto tried to argue, his voice quieter now. "I'm stuck here with you, and it's been awful for me too! Because of you, everyone hated me. I grew up all alone..."

As he spoke, hurt crept into his voice.